IRC is a form of instant communication over the Internet. It is intended for group (many-to-many) communication in discussion forums called channels, but also allows one-to-one communication.

There are many ways for Puppy users to join our Puppy Linux IRC channels. The best method is to install a new IRC chat program or use an existing IRC client on your computer. Puppy Linux 1.0.8 and later will auto-join the main channel when you click the Chat desktop icon or select it in the menus. An alternative is to use a web-based IRC client.

Generally, the server is irc.freenode.net and the channel is #puppylinux. The main channel is for tech support and general chat. See ChatRoom for a quick start on how to connect or keep reading.

Please observe the few rules below (Yes, we need these, no one is exempt):

Be polite - no foul language will be tolerated.

Respect the users in the chat. Operators are indicated with the color Green or an @ symbol next to their nick, private message them about issues with other users (note this is the only time you may break rule 4)

If you are unsure about anything related to IRC ask questions, we will assist you to the best of our abilities.

Sending unsolicited Private Messages, (chatting back channel) is NOT allowed.

If you think you were treated unfairly, send a Private Message via the main forum to J_Rey or an e-mail to Anacari (AKA T260G/^Cricket^) at kenji @ racecs.com. (Note: We will at least need the Nick of the person whom you wish to log a complaint against.)

Personal bots are not allowed. Ask for an exception; if an exception is made then it must have a '_bot' tag appended to the Nick. Any bot without it will be kicked.

Cloning, i.e. more than one client logged in from the same address, is also discouraged.

X-Chat is a powerful multi-platform IRC Chat program available for Puppy Linux as both a PupGet (1.8.11) and a DotPup (2.6.0) package. You may want to try an unofficial version for Windows.this setup is for X-Chat 1.8; other versions of Xchat may vary

Gaim provides other IM (Instant Messenger) services such as ICQ, AIM, Yahoo, MSN and Jabber along with IRC and is included with Puppy Linux and is also available with Windows. In Puppy Linux 1.0.8 and later, Gaim (recent versions of it were renamed to Pidgin) will auto-join the main chat.

When using Gaim across several networks (Yahoo, MSN, IRC, etc.) simultaneously I find the Auto-login to every network rather cumbersome. My personal preference is to set all of my accounts so I have to manually log in.

When you open Gaim, instead of selecting a specific account and then clicking the sign in button, I click the ACCOUNTS button and then place a checkmark in the ONLINE button of each account I wish to use during that Gaim session. This way you only have one instance of Gaim with several network windows, rather than 3 instances of Gaim with 1 network each.

When chatting on multiple channels, if someone types something, that channel tab text will turn red (or another color) letting you know that someone is talking there.

You may hold a private conversation with someone by double clicking their name. This opens a new window where you and that person may chat "backchannel". See rule #4 above!

Gaim and others have a nice file-sharing system called DCC. If you want/need to share a file, it is nice to open a private conversation to discuss the file, then right click the recipients name and select send file. They will only receive the file if they accept it. IT IS NEVER A GOOD IDEA TO SET YOUR DCC TO AUTO-ACCEPT.

Some channels have "bots". Bots are applications that loiter on an IRC channel to keep it open, log visitors, play trivia games with you, etc. Don't chat with them...they don't talk back. Wink Bots may be programmed to be malicious however, so be careful.

Some IRC servers parade your IP address for everyone to see by using a simple /whois command. Puppy is a nice OS in that if you have your firewall on, it appears relatively "invisible" and doesn't seem to respond to ping attempts.